April 4, 2024

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Often when discussing agricultural production and agtech innovation, the conversation focuses on the challenges associated with crop yields, inputs, and climate change – all valid and important considerations. However, although much more nebulous, labor issues are also a critical pain point in the food production process. But headway is being made. 

Seso, an agricultural workforce management platform, announced it has closed on $26 million in Series B funding led by BOND with participation from Index Ventures, NFX, SV Angel, numerous Seso customers, and other undisclosed investors. 

“Any farmer in America will tell you that the biggest risk to their business is labor,” said Michael Guirguis, co-founder and CEO, Seso. “We are building the industry’s first digital system of record for farms to hire and manage a seasonal workforce while remaining compliant with government regulations.”

The Farm Bureau Federation estimates that there are approximately 2.4 million agricultural jobs needing to be filled in the U.S., and many farms are turning to the H-2A visa to supplement their seasonal labor needs. Likewise, in a report issued by the U.S, the House Committee on Agriculture’s bipartisan Agriculture Labor Working Group (ALWG) in early March 2024 outlining proposed steps to take to address the situation, the bi-partison group suggests simplifying the H-2A workers visa process as a key way to alleviate the labor crisis. 

Seso explained that this visa is uncapped, allowing farmers to hire experienced agricultural workers from outside the U.S., providing migrant workers the opportunity to work on American farms earning up to 20 times the salary available to them in their home countries.

However, the H-2A program is extremely difficult to navigate, leading to many application mistakes and 72 percent of farms reporting delayed arrivals for the H-2A workers. In an industry where a delayed harvest could mean ruin for a farm’s bottom line, this is a precarious situation. 

Seso streamlines the H-2A visa application process and digitizes the paperwork involved for both the workers and employers. The company also helps farmers across the U.S. use the latest software to manage their back-office workflows and HR documentation, providing all functionality needed to manage their workforce. 

“Seso has a bold and thoughtful digital vision to help address the labor shortages that have plagued the nation’s agricultural industry for decades,” said Mary Meeker, general partner, BOND. “We are excited to partner with Seso as they help farm workers succeed and provide a generational step forward in business software solutions for agriculture employers.”

With the capital from this round, the company plans to expand its platform, including adding an AI-enabled payroll solution, a banking and remittance solution for farm workers, and a comprehensive ag-focused HR platform. 

Since its launch in 2021, hundreds of farms, including 27 of the 100 largest U.S. agricultural employers, have adopted Seso’s platform as their labor management solution. In 2023 alone, the company signed up more than 88,000 workers for seasonal jobs, and as Seso expands beyond visa automation into full-stack HR applications, the company is leading in bringing AI to the farm. 

“We are building the most comprehensive HR system ever created for agriculture while ensuring it’s simple and easy to use,” said Jordan Taylor, co-founder and head of product, Seso. 

“Generative AI is going to make a 50-hour payroll reconciliation process take under five minutes and will remove the reliance on paper checks and manual data entry for the back-office team.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and Agtech Intel News. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

*The content put forth by Global AgInvesting News and its parent company HighQuest Partners is intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. All information or other material herein is not to be construed as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice. Global AgInvesting and HighQuest Partners are not a fiduciary in any manner, and the reader assumes the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of any information or other content on this site.